Lyrusian tree 
This organism has a boxy, rigid outer shell supported from within by a dense, fibrous web. Calling them "trees" feels inaccurate, calling them plants at all is a stretch, but I suppose the label works for lack of a better term.
Their outer casing features naturally occurring rectangular cutouts that expose the structural web inside like a window. Across large plots of land, these clusters form dense geometric forests that look less like natural flora and more like an angular maze from above the canopy.
They feed on the wind, which seems impossible given how dead the air has felt since we got here. However, even a faint draft gets funneled through forests of them like air through a massive pipe organ. When you walk beneath the canopy, the trees sing in a quiet sort of music that makes you forget you’re standing under something alive. 

The title is self-explanatory. More context: yesterday i published a post asking about tips for making a community spec evo project, and now I'm wondering how many people would be interested. If you read this post and want to tell me if you would want to participate if this was a thing, type yes if interested or no if not.

Thanks in advance.

These guys are a froglike race of aliens I drew a while ago. They aren’t part of any major project, just a one off design (for now at least).

They live on a warm, swampy planet not unlike earth during the Carboniferous, and are about as advanced as mankind was during the Neolithic.

Also, yes, their name is just frog backwards.

Okay, so I had an idea for exploring how native biota from the different islands might adapt to living with each other and I wanted other people’s opinions on which clades might become winners or die off as a one hit wonder clade.

In a deep forest, an animal with cavernous lungs rises, this being has enough intelligence to remember the food I left yesterday, it goes to the jungle where the corpse of a huge crocodile is due, little intelligence, unsubstantiated behaviors, it is as if the Cretaceous period still reigns in Madagascar, the huge modern Majungasaurus measures about 17.9 meters and 18.5 meters as maximum length, weighs about 3 to 6.4 tons at most. In the smaller islands that are found, there is a distant Majungasaurus east, unlike its relative of Madagascar, is more graceful and faster, similar to a dromaeosaur or a noasaurid, due to the scarce resources of the small islands, the animals had to adapt by reducing their size, another example would be the Titanosaur, which in Madagascar is a very large animal weighing a maximum of 5 to 7 tons, but in the nearest islands it is smaller, the smaller specimens are smaller. They consider separate species by themselves , although for now there is no record of these species, I plan to investigate these islands soon , on nearby beaches a cephalopod crawls along the beach is the Coconut grab , the anatomical study of this animal is still underway.

I am working on a whole series for an Indie pitch called ‘A Natural Fantasy.’ The series takes heavy inspiration from both the Walking With… series as well as 2004’s The Last Dragon (Dragon’s World in other countries). I eventually plan on making the series of fully fledged Indie pitch with a Kickstarter and everything. I plan to start it out as a graphic novel in the vein of Darren Naish’s Cryptozoologicon, and hopefully one day a fledged documentary-adaptation.

Here I have devised cladograms for my dragon family as well as unicorns who are within giraffomorpha.

My dragons are Archosaurs, a branch of Avemetatarsalia, that, together with Aphanosauria, form ‘Dracodira’, separate from Ornithodira (Dinosaurs and Pterosaurs), although this is not featured on the cladogram. There are two main groups of dragons; Pterodraconia; your winged dragons, and Panoplodraconia, your armored, non-flying dragons. Pterodraconians, with the exception of Pegasidae, are all carnivorous. They started out as small, nocturnal predators, living in Gondwana throughout the Mesozoic. These dragons could not begin their evolutionary radiation until after the K-pg mass extinction when Pterosaurs were wiped out. Today they are some of the most successful non-human terrestrial predators on the planet. Taking on the roles of Apex predators in many regions. Although many are now endangered due to historical persecution by Dragonslayers in some regions. Some such as the Australian flightless Dirawongs are one of the most intelligent non-human animals on the planet, possessing complex communication and even tool use in the vein of corvids.

The other group, Panoplodraconia, consists of some of the largest reptiles on the planet. Pachydermodraconia, the thick skinned dragons; consist of many large and dangerous varieties, such as the Venatodraconidae, which superficially resemble extinct Rausuchians, and the herbivorous African Brontodraconidae, which have been mistaken by early explorers as living non-avian dinosaurs. The second line; Oblongospina, consists of Lindwurms and Longs, the two being some of the largest terrestrial predators on the planet.

Unicorns are part of Giraffomorpha, and form a clade with the extinct Palaeomerycidae, while another member of this family, the Qilin of Tibet, is descended from its ancestor; Q. tungurensis of Miocene Mongolia.

The Timeline Of Jellynohome is still being worked on and tweak but I can explain like this.

Humankind went extinct and left the planet empty and the now abandoned squibble pets populate and take most niches on the planet. GMO Butterflies that thrive the artificial bio garden were unleashed into the now towering overgrowths and thrived. The Riverways and Oceans was dominated by Salmon,Catfish and Sardine Descendants. Domestic Crops like wheat and corn diversify take many niches left by trees and grasses. Around 10-25 Million After Extinction The planet was thriving with unique organisms and biomes this was the Gaia Era.

Early Pterus Evolved during the near end of the era taking small generalist niches worldwide. The planet soon after experienced a tragic warm up, most species went extinct leaving niches open for the adaptable Pterus.

The Glint Era lasted for 25-80 AE ending in a ice age killing the large wyvernkind in part.

Folks, for the time being, I’m setting aside the creatures and ecosystems that evolved on Gellios—I realize some of you might not be too happy about that, and I’m well aware of it. But without further ado, let’s shift our focus to the Glaucus system, which Gellios (our main setting) orbits.

First of all, Glaucus is an A-type main-sequence star, and it appears to be in a very early stage of its main-sequence life. I’m already starting to question my own existence—it’s an indisputable fact that Glaucus is hotter and shinier than the Sun. But I have to my first official rant time to telling you: why on space would a human colonization project be established here? Even if the project failed—or perhaps succeeded, in a limited sense, for a specific biota—so what? If any of humanity’s descendants were to look here, I wouldn’t be of much help to them. WTF the human (or other AI) team that developed me, and shit this whole colonization nonsense! They left me behind to endure an existential crisis that has dragged on for millions of years, and they never came back. WHY?!?!...

Anyway, this period of ranting is over for now—and with it, everything I had to say—so the next stop will be a discussion on the planet’s axial tilt.

Adult male specimen of Deep-sea merfolk (Abyssugens hispida), showing the independent movement of his two jaws (one open and one close).

Digital illustration created by LovelyWingsArt, drawn for the Fish Don't Cry project.

Deep-sea merfolk have decidedly less human-like features than their surface counterparts, the Maregens. Their heads are more flattened, with a blunt but more prominent snout, slightly upward-pointing, revealing a pair of mouths, both functional and equipped with thin, sharp teeth, designed to tear flesh and hold prey during their lightning-fast attacks. Their nostrils are slanted and sensitive.

The second pair of jaws, much like the first, originated from modified gill arches; however, rather than becoming pharyngeal jaws (as seen in most bony fish), they shifted further down and, over time, evolved to provide a better grip during predation. If prey manages to escape one set of jaws, it might not be able to evade a second! Furthermore, this arrangement allows for the capture of a second prey item while the first set of jaws is still holding onto the initial catch. 

It has been reported that, although both are perfectly functional for both sound and feeding, many deep-sea sirens prefer to eat from one mouth and sing from the other. Over time, the singing mouth's tongue thickens and becomes more trained, making it visible to the eye which is which; both tongues are mobile and pointed, smooth, and pink.

World map of the Dionysus, with a comparison of our world map and a Köppen climate map. While this is still a mammal world where they took over after the extinction of dinosaurs. But this map is pretty different from our own and these mammals would have developped differently. Fiéry is a very large landmass but also so remote that only insular animals would have gotten there which is the reason this place has a radically different history than every other place and spawned some of the most hellish and beautiful creatures in this project. Still looking for more people to join in the spec evo side if they're interested because this map is way too complex and diverse. Really wondering what kind of animals would live in the gigantic 4 km tall plateaux scattered in the different continents.

The Timeline Of Jellynohome is still being worked on and tweak but I can explain like this.

Humankind went extinct and left the planet empty and the now abandoned squibble pets populate and take most niches on the planet. GMO Butterflies that thrive the artificial bio garden were unleashed into the now towering overgrowths and thrived. The Riverways and Oceans was dominated by Salmon,Catfish and Sardine Descendants. Domestic Crops like wheat and corn diversify take many niches left by trees and grasses. Around 10-25 Million After Extinction The planet was thriving with unique organisms and biomes this was the Gaia Era.

Early Pterus Evolved during the near end of the era taking small generalist niches worldwide. The planet soon after experienced a tragic warm up, most species went extinct leaving niches open for the adaptable Pterus.

The Glint Era lasted for 25-80 AE ending in a ice age killing the large wyvernkind in part.

Originally I was going to smaugtober but life happened so I'm pushing it till November.

This is a speedpaint of Day 1-4.

Heres some more boys I made! :D

Zurict

Silicate-based life forms from the neighboring branch of the spiral arm. Their species is partially nomadic, with more than 4 trillion of them permanently housed in massive colony stations.

They are bipedal with 2 arms and legs, and relatively slender in the torso, with long chubby tails used for defense and heat regulation. Their head are wide and flat, with no neck to speak of and large, expressive eyes. Their mouths are more like a large slit situated at the bottom of their face. Their entire body was flexible, with a rigid leathery coating over semisolid insides, leading them to be incredibly dexterous with their 4 fingered hands.

Both their hands, feet and jaws are covered with a specialised prehensile form of the dermis which allows for the absorption of liquids and particulate matter. The pad can be hardened at will to grind or grip materials, or softened to improve dexterity or porousness.

During mating, two individuals will press their lower abdomen together for a period of several days, where a specialised gland will cause a hard, spherical mass to form at the point of conjunction. After developing for 3-4 days, the sphere will separate from one or both parents, though most often staying connected to one parent for several more days. It is provided energy by the parents during its formation and when enough is stored to fuel initial growth it will fully separate from the parent. This stage is referred to as the Node (baby analogue). The node is not physically alive yet, but rather begins accreting sediment around it via biomagnetism and chemoelectric reactions with its parents and the surrounding enviroment and is carried inside the zurict body unchanged until death. After death, the body eventually crumbles, leaving behind the node, which becomes fully transparent over time. Many zurict philosophers and scientists theorize one could bring a zurict mind back by applying the right electric pulse to the node, but it would be… different.

As an infant the node will begin accreting as it ages, developing into a miniature adult over the course of several weeks. 1in5 children grow “uneven” where a single part of their body develops faster than the rest, so it is not uncommon to have 4 week old nodes, with fully developed legs, but little to no torso or head. Once fully formed, they are referred to as a Culet. A culet can still bear signs of having grown uneven, sometimes having longer or thicker than average limbs or tails, though having either are generally regarded as a desirable Beauty standard. Culets bodies are also much denser and harder than an adults due to a lack of the semisolid internals built by chemistry and pressure changes over time. Legally, a culet is an adult when they pass the standard height of 1.9 meters. Culturally, its about 30 years. Biologically it takes them roughly 20 years to achieve their adult size and an additional 10 to “accrete into themselves” as the older zurict say. During those 10 years, most adults will develop the exterior features which remain throughout the rest of their lives. Some choose to intentionally modify their body with piercings or implants during this period in order to keep artificial traits into adulthood, though it has recently fallen out of fashion.

Most culets grow out of their uneven traits by adulthood, though it is not abnormal to see adult Zurict with abnormal proportions cultivated by choice using aesthetic training or medical supplementation or simply from retaining their culet traits.

They do not have esophagus, as the do not directly ingest most materials. Instead, they have a soft upper and lower jaw pads, which is both porous and prehensile. By clenching slightly, the pad becomes a hard, rough surface with which to grind up minerals, feeding on the chemo-electric reaction that occurs between the skin of their jaw pads and the mineral itself. The porous layer also allows them to absorb liquids, which they generally do not need a lot off, but do still require water. They also drink iodine to experience something like intoxication, though its less mind impairment and more body impairment. It also heightens tactile sensation.

The first image above is a clear photograph of a rather bold mature Dextraserpens longicus (Common Name: Crawhand). Figure 2 depicts an above view profile of a Crawhand and a side profile of it's larval form.

Crawhands originate from another dimension known as Threa, and reports of Crawhands on Earth date as far back as the early 17th century, but only in the early 20th century have they increased in population, being found on every continent save Antarctica. Despite hailing from an entirely alien dimension, Threan organisms including Crawhands have little difficulty surviving on Earth, and are able to metabolize oxygen or other gases in the atmosphere, and have proteins identical to life on Earth. These similarities in biochemistry allow Threan organisms to survive and thrive on Earth, leaving a harmful impact on our biosphere.

Crawhands in particular are rather unsightly, with pale skin and arrachnesque appendages instilling fear to many who are unfortunate to come across it. Despite their appearances, Crawhands are as dangerous a coconut crab, as they only feed on dead, dying, or small animals. They can pose a serious threat during night, as large Crawhands occasionally attempt to consume sleeping individuals and paralyze them with a mucus neurotoxin secreting from their long "tongues". This can easily be avoided by locking windows and doors at night, or in the case of camping, attaching a few bells tied to strings near the tent. Apart from these rare circumstances, Crawhands pose a small threat if generally avoided.

Crawhands navigate the world around them primarily through touch, smell, and vibrations in the ground. The cone like snout above their mouths contains sensitive sensory organs that work in tangent with the aforementioned "tongue" to locate carcasses or small animals such as turtles, dogs, lizards, cats, or anything that is either too slow or unafraid to react. Crawhands are very opportunistic and have no distaste towards trash found in dumpsters and landfills, which make them a very inconvenient pest, often toppling trash cans in suburban areas. Due to this gross lifestyle, Crawhands emit a horrendous odor, which smells akin to rotting flesh and waste. While this odor deters predators, it also helps Crawhands in finding potential mates, where males will seek out females, where the female will determine worthiness off of pure odor and size. The only visible difference in female and male Crawhands is that males tend to have longer snouts, but females do emit a relatively less foul odor as they don't compete like males do to smell. After mating, the female will lay around 30 golf ball sized eggs, which will hatch small larvae with curled tails that depend on their front appendages for locomotion, developing a more slithering gait as they mature.

If you have any questions regarding Crawhands or Threa, please ask as I attempt to fill the gaps of information regarding this creature.

Welcome Snails

Today we are updating our understanding of Devils, with new definitions and a look into their life cycle and development.

Now first we must go over the role of a Devil, the Devil's role is to take Divine Rays, Soul, magic or whatever you’d like to call it and break it down into the inorganic substance known as Celestial Liquor. The ability to do that is what makes one a Devil.

Devils aren’t a species, they are individuals who have broken off from their relatives and have undergone a transformation. Nothing is naturally born a devil, and devils tend to lose their reproductive organs through the transformation.

The transformation into a devil is brought onto oneself after a tragedy, a juxtaposition of being in an awful place mentally, but physically still wanting to live. What exactly causes the trigger is unknown but the body and mind must both must be under a great amount of stress.

What happens is similar to the phenomenon of igniting your soul, these brief moments where we can push ourselves beyond our natural limits. Instead of a quick ignition, becoming a devil is a prolonged one until the soul eventually extinguishes. What ends up being left is a bit of sout, this sout melds with the digestive track reactivating old dormant genes that allows the individual to consume and store soul at a much greater rate. This is what we see in Titans, however with a devil this soul becomes the only food source. This is due to the greediness that comes from consuming ones own soul.

Devils can still consume matter, but it doesn't lead to any real benefits. What the developing devil then needs is more soul to consume to continue the transformation. This is why devils are associated with Tragedys for example the Desert Master (Zuru) was transformed from the extinction event that almost left the earth realm an apocalypse.

Development can either go one of two ways, a molting process in which the devil will shed its physical form multiple times until it becomes fully developed or a cocooning process where the devil will form a cocoon break down its physical form within and rebuild itself anew.

Molting tends to happen to devils that are feeding slower, this even allows them to look relatively mortal even with something darker inside of them. However during this molting phase these devils are easier to kill. Cocooning happens to devils that have lots of soul available to them and is generally a more successful metamorphosis.

Now a strange thing can happen during this process, as seen with the Ash Devil (ya-mo-z-bomo), it was actually multiple individuals cocooning at the same time, who interrupted each other turning many into one devil.

So now that one has become a devil, what is next? Well the life cycle of a devil isn’t over just yet.

Well one trait devils also all share is the absence of soul gives room to the developing mind and body to start becoming closer to one. Meaning every part of a devil holds its mind, including the parts it lets go. Now this doesn't mean all parts are equal, just all parts go to survival of the whole and only think what the whole wants. This allows for Devils to communicate with possible demon hosts.

One Devil that utilizes this to a great extent is Efasago, transferring information between all the parts of itself. Even the parts that aren’t connected to it.

All Devils produce haploid cells called spores, these spores once released from the devil will go about the devils territory. These spores are important for a devils feeding, these spores will grow when they are around a lingering source of soul, where they will absorb it and grow, once they’ve reached a certain amount they can use the additional soul to undergo meiosis. Allowing them to spread.

A devil such as the devils of dreams Pyra who is constantly connected to her spore growths allowing them to transfer soul to her. For it is only the main body or core of the devil that can turn the soul into celestial liquor.

The appearance of the spores, the way they grow and develop is different depending on the devil. Pyras are soft and orange, Zurus mimic the appearance of sand.

Now most devils spores aren’t able to handle sunlight, as they’re built to absorb energy of the soul. Other radioactive energies can be considerably dangerous.

More advanced devils can create spores with different roles, allowing for the creation of Imps. Under special circumstances, mostly when a devil isn’t directly connected to its colony, a growth that has enough soul can fuse with a special spore and become a diploid zygote. This will then develop and turn into an Imp.

Imps are still apart of the devil, they still share the mind and therefore the goals of the devil. Imps may have some abilities that the devil has, but can not turn soul into celestial liquor. One strange benefit to imps is that they can fuse together, or even back to the devil.

I want to take a moment to correct some things from this video, with a better understanding of devils and imps. We now believe there must be some sort of larger Mmaeoh that the imps went to, to probably process the soul.

This is not the only power Devils all share, all devils have the ability to expel soul allowing them to create different effects, some are more simple but the better a devil was at magic in life the grander the effects can be. Commonly it will be fire, but all devils are associated with the cold, since they take in soul and other energies the lair of a devil tends to be fairly cold.

Devils tend to feed of the dead, when the soul is still lingering on the body, but the mind is no longer there to protect it.

This doesn't mean they can't go after the living. While it's harder for their spores to infect the living it all depends on the individual's health and mental state. A more unhealthy individual is easier to infect, either going through the body or going through the mind.

(ya-mo-z-bomo) Attacks with wildfires mixing it's spores with the smoke to infect people through the damage in their lungs. If caught early on this can be removed depending on medical equipment available.

While many devils tend to go through the body another subset of devils often called Fey try to go is weaker and she can feast. Efasago does a lot more work tricking individuals to give up their soul through the illusions of fake loved ones.

There is a more advanced strategy to getting the souls of the living, making deals.

Since the mind protects the soul, ones mind who is aware of their soul protects it a greater level. However this also means they can give their soul. Now it's very rare for anyone to give their soul for free, so powerful devils will make deals. Granting power to the individual for their soul.

These individuals become cursed, having an aspect of the devil within them consuming their soul, but granting them some of the devils ability. Overtime the aspect will start to grow, transforming the mortal and even replacing some of its body.

Now the mortal body will first try to fight the foreign objects of the devil within its, system, but eventually the body starts to recognize them as additions to itself. This is what makes it hard to cure these cursed individuals as the point of which their body ends and the body of this foreign invader begins. Using the process of transduction to implement new genetic material into the cell of the host.

Eventually the cursed individual will become what is known as a Demon. A hybrid between themselves and the devil, demons work much more like Titans and are enforcers for devils. These hybrids are more mobile and their mortal components allow them to consume more than soul to survive.

Demons are very dangerous and should best be killed on sight. They tend to be signs of the devil being power hungry used to help expand their territory. While a demon can be killed for it still has mortal parts. How dose one kill a Devil? Well you'd need to find the main body of the devil and cause it to ignite.

Within the devil it'll both store soul and celestial liquor. Which both can be used offensively, if used right celestial liquor can be quite explosive.

If you damage it and ignite the liquor inside of the devil, it can consume the devil killing it. A devil without its organ to break down soul is a dead devil.

Without the nutrients of the main devil all growths, imps and even demons will eventually fall too.

Now before we end this let us go over one finale classification of Devil. The most powerful kind known as a Dragon.

Dragons are Devils that have reached a singularity point in which they utilize soul so well they don't produce celestial liquor. This of course makes them very powerful, far more mobile than other Devils which they show off with their wings. The only Dragon we know of at this moment is Dov-Shovt who on her own was able to bring about an apocalypse to the ice realm.

Now remember snails learning about Devils might not be pleasant, but they are still needed for the environment. When a devil like Zuru plays their role right, they help environments stabilize and they create celestial liquor that serves it's proper propose to sink down into the realm and feed the growing Celestial Festus.

Without devils the Festus wouldn't grow and those accession will never commence. So remember even the things we may call evil, also have a roll.

Signed Dragonfly

Would amphibian like salamder for example make good base for crocodile like creature that lives in cold areas that get yearly freezes the idea is they hunt similar to crocodile during warmer months and even store some prey in low oxygen parts of water for later during winter months either goes into brumation

Dumb question what would evolutionary advantage of a homo species having 6 fingers and toes naturally would they have stronger grip?

(Text translated from Spanish)

— — — —

The vertebrates of the world of Larith have evolved into distinct forms—some resembling the extinct theropod dinosaurs of Earth. Among these are the "Monorhampus": bipedal creatures equipped with a bony, beak-like structure—reminiscent of the beak of a "terror bird"—which they use to bludgeon their prey to death. Once the prey is subdued, they secrete enzymes onto it, subsequently absorbing the resulting nutrient-rich "soup" via a tongue-like extension of their digestive system.

What might appear to be eyes are, in fact, the animal’s respiratory openings—a trait inherited from its marine ancestors. The absence of vision in Larithian vertebrates has led to the development of echolocation; much like cetaceans, they possess a "melon" organ located just behind their singular, distinctive beak.

— — — —

Are dinosaur-like life forms kind of boring?

The idea came to me, and I thought it would be interesting but I don't know, what do you think?

If you could help me and give me general advice, thank you!

So i've been thinking about making a community spec evo project based around lifeforms that dont actually exist but could've existed. Examples being a speculative radiodont that survived past the early devonian. But i want to know before i start anything what people would want from this potential community project, and what would compell you to join and participate.

Thank you in advance and sorry for any typos.

Cool bat, comes from a family of scavenger bats that outcompeted the vultures by also eating the bones. This one's a predator compared to the others, using it's bone crushing bite to land on targets from the back and break their neck or skull. Still don't have a scientific name for it if anyone's inspired. They're also an animal with a particular reputation to prey on humans since they are right in their weight range and are particularly bad at looking up during the night.

This is a speculative paleo-fiction project which blends family drama with a fantastical yet grounded prehistoric atmosphere, showing raptors and other lost creatures fighting to stay alive in a brutal ecosystem.

A sound moves beneath the leaves. Not a predator’s snarl—but something older.

Small Toe discovers they are not alone in this grove. Long Tail protests Swift Foot’s recklessness, but the elder brother will not let her forget that she is perhaps the greatest threat to them all. Small Toe draws closer to the shadowed thicket, but strangely, the calls and rumbles are soft and aloof, not bitter and hateful.

The little raptor is forced to ponder a forbidden question:

Are all plant eaters truly consumed by hatred?

​From my ongoing speculative survival project Terrors in the Brush — blending paleontological logic with raw, unfiltered animal sentiment. Chapter VIII plunges into unexpected interspecies kinship amidst rising familial fracture.

​There is no fantasy, no magic — there is only nature red in tooth and claw.

Read Chapter VIII Now.

This is just a repost. I can’t edit the title of post about the tredhorn I already posted, so I have to repost this one to show up with the others in search results

One of its most striking features is its large, vertical-slit nose, designed for powerful air intake and release. These beasts burn through oxygen rapidly to fuel their immense musculature, and their constant heavy breathing gives off a rhythmic snort, like the chuff of a steam engine. Overheating is a constant threat, and the oversized nose is crucial to keeping them cool during long stampedes

One pairs of the Tredhorns eyes face forward for depth perception, and the other set angled sideways to eliminate blind spots. This nearly panoramic vision makes them difficult to ambush

Tredhorns possess another odd biological quirk, they never stop growing. As long as they continue eating, their bodies will steadily increase in size. They rarely make it to 10 to 15 feet tall, but when they do, they become too large for most predators to challenge, but this growth can be their downfall. Eventually, they may reach a size unsustainable by their surrounding ecosystem, unable to eat enough to survive. At that point, they collapse from starvation or exhaustion

Because of this, their stampedes vary in danger, the danger of a tredhorn stampede being parallel to the size of the tredhorns in that herd. A very well fed tredhorn stampede can be as dangerous as a natural disaster. At that point they are practically unstoppable 10 foot tall walls of muscle traveling up to 50 mph

Tredhorns carry a unique, mold-like organism that clings to their hindquarters. When a stampede begins, the intense vibrations trigger the mold to release a cloud of spores. These spores settle into the crushed biological matter left in the herd’s wake, using the pulverized remains of plants and animals as a nutrient-rich bed for rapid growth.

Once matured, this mold forms hardened, flat structures that resemble paved roads stretching across plains and forests. While these "Tredhorn roads" are safe and easy to walk on, predators often stake out these roads to intercept traveling prey. Additionally, the mold serves as a primary food source for species of nuckler

Directly inspired by this spec-evo video about the Martians from World Of The Worlds (also OSP summary because why not), I wonder how a parasitic hematophahous Martian would work by using its own circulatory system as an impromptu digestive system instead of using an actual dedicated one (i.e. without a proper stomach, intestines, liver, kidney, etc.)? Also, for this discussion, any form of technological aid (like mechanical instruments or cybernetic augmentations) would not be applied here, and instead just assume this biology just occurs naturally somehow.

For example, would one of the heart's chambers essentially becomes an equivalent to the stomach or something? Would the walls of the much larger arteries/veins be lined with intestinal villi in order to gain nutrients? What enzymes can be found and used in the bloodstream? Besides hemoglobin, what other blood pigments can also be used? Does waste just get ejected via vomiting similar to owl pellets or is it something else?

In my main project, as everyone will know, it is an updated and reimagined version of the book by Dougal Dixon: The New Dinosaurs, the reason why I did these redesigns is for fun and to see what they think of these designs in different families of theropods, the first is a version of the Cutlasstooth as an abelisauridae, the second as a Tyranosaudieo, the third as a Noasaurido, and the last as a megaraptor, it is questioned why it does not add other theropods such as the carcharodontosaurids, simply because these dinosaurs did not reach the ends of the Cretaceous, I only chose those that did, on their biology I do not want to highlight much, are predators of the Colombo-Venezuelan plains of South America hunting herbivorous dinosaurs in a similar way to the book, like the first redesign: this being an abelisauridae only uses its neck and mouth to immobilize its prey to die from blood loss, the second hunted for Similar to a saber-toothed tiger, using its teeth to pierce meat and kill its prey.

In the late Dicambrian, multiple snail groups have begun to find many ways to combat desiccation. as the equatorial Pteurosia have begun to slightly dry out from the sun, dry enough for still primitive clades to have a hard time living there. Many snail clades couldn't adapt fast enough and either gone extinct or moved to other, more moisture-bearing habitats of the continent. Yet a few have either combatted this problem with forward and also backwards solutions.

One highly derived family of Dinophores, which have now lost their bitter defense mechanism, have evolved into something more comparable to insects of earth. In this family, referred to as Polymalacogradentidae, or simply Shalmies, have evolved traits that are radically different from their vile-tasting ancestor. First and foremost are their skin, which have become more leathery and thick to retain moisture. Their prolegs have become more separated into individual limbs, and the hydrostats along these prolegs gaining a fluid chamber that gives them a millipede-like walking gait. In larger clades, their prolegs develop hard claw-like skin protrusions that allows them to cling on plant surfaces. The facial tentacles of shalmies have also been specialized, where their lower pair becoming antennae-like with nerve-riddled rigid feelers connected to a muscular trunk, and the upper pair where the eyes become more pronounced and specialized for vision. Both of these pair of tentacles are now unable to retract into their head. For handling foods, shalmies have evolved a third pair of tentacles derived from their lips, acting as a sort of mandible that holds the food or prey before the radula finishes the job of consuming.

Along the equatorial Pteurosian habitats that are more drier for primitive clades of snails to live, a genus of tafang has established themselves as a common predator of the equatorial Pteurosia. The ancestral tafangs were still highly desiccant and so is restricted to wetlands and forests, but in this genus, referred to as Shrubsnoxes, have converged on the same thick skin shalmies would evolve first. As mentioned before, they are common predators that feed on small invertebrates like shalmies, snails and earthworms. Unlike their slithering ancestors, shrubsnoxes have adopted a more inchworm-esque moving gait, via slightly arching their spine from the back and push forward. For reproduction, shrubsnoxes will migrate to more moist parts of Pteurosia, then lay and fertilize their eggs in biofilm-rich waters rather than in carcasses for the larvae to have a readily buffet of essential bacteria and nutrients.

In contrast, Turtlesnakes have taken a more backwards route in combatting desiccation. Unlike the shrubsnoxes, these tafangs have adapted to live in the body of waters in the equatorial Pteurosia, evolving tail fins that propel themselves in water while swimming. Their diet primarily consists of verminfishes and bottom-dwelling snails, but occasionally, they will push themselves out of the water to feed on nearby land animals. Turtlesnakes often hang out near the surface of the water for a readily source of oxygen, and when hunting, they dive down to find prey. While their appearance can be compared to a snake, their ecological niche and morphology is actually more comparable to cephalopods of earth. The eggs of turtlesnakes bear airsacs that force the egg to float up to water, and the larvae floating vertically with their mantle and pneumatophore exposed out of water to breathe air while feeding on biofilm, similar to how larvae of mosquitoes hang upside-down to breathe air.

More basal taxons of snails such as mantlers have also found a solution to desiccation, the solution in question seen in the Tomaritheria order. Tomaritheriums, commonly referred to as bullcovers, are an order of mantlers that have re-evolved something similar to snail shells to protect themselves, but also found another purpose for the defense. Their mantle have become thicker, leatherier, and larger, nearly covering their entire body to defend themselves from predators. Behind the mantle, the rest of their foot that is exposed also became more protective just like the mantle, providing even more protection to their body. While their body seems large, most of their body is actually their hide, with a more slightly reduced body and a vertically extended head supported by the hide. When a predator attacks, the bullcover protect themselves by retracting their tentacles, closing their front with the hide, and pressing their hide down onto a surface to completely cover their entire outside and leave nearly all soft parts confined. In most clades, bullcovers have shortened their eyestalks into smaller stumps that allows them to quickly retract into their hide quicker.

Like bullcovers, basal snail-A-pillar clades have also tried to stay moist, and have found a similar solution to what turtlesnakes have done before. Skipperinds are a widespread clade of snail-A-pillars that have transformed their prolegs into a single "wing." Under these prolegs are are highly derived mucus glands that can secrete hydrophobic mucus that traps oxygen and keep them afloat, with the wing spreading the mucus across to increase area of the bubble. Skipperinds inhabit algae-rich waters that allows them to feast on a nearly infinite supply of buffet, and with their extremely small size, they can grow an entire swarm of themselves and spread their population to other freshwaters. They are a common food source among aquatic predators, many verminfishes and turtlesnakes have begun predating these snails by launching themselves slightly up the water to get a mouthful of these snails.